Question about Pre-paid Phones

[suedaisy]

My family will be traveling to Disney in a couple of weeks. We will have 4 groups on different flights. I would like to make sure that my mother has a cell phone during her travels in the case of any delays, transportation glitches, etc. Also, it would be great for us to have a "back-up" phone in the park when we split up (only for emergencies to call in- not to receive calls).

There is no need for my mom to have an additional phone except for our trips. We will be going again in March.

I have never purchased a prepaid phone or minutes gift cards or anything like this. Does anyone have any experience with this? We do not need any "fancy" phone features and I suspect we will only use the phone for 15 minutes total and only have it on to receive calls for an hour or so.

If I buy a $10 Wal-mart prepaid phone, can I purchase additional minutes in March?

Thank you!

 

[hydrotony]

I have used pre-paid phones a lot and I think they are great. I think everyone (or group) in a party should have a phone nowadays since they are so cheap as you noticed. When you buy the phone, you have to next activate it. You can set up a personal account through their web site or maybe just get the store to do it. New phone purchases usually give you about 200 'minutes' and 30 'days' of service at activation. You need both of those in the plus to keep the phone working. At activation, the phone service assigns a phone number to the phone and that number is that phone's as long as you have minutes and days to use. If you don't keep current with minutes and days, that phone number is canceled and your phone is inert. However, you can in the future reactivate the phone by buying more minutes and days but the phone gets a new number. You can buy more time several ways- store bought cards that have pin numbers, credit card charge through web site, credit card charge through the phone.

These phone are great for talking and texting. Some have web browsers but they are kind of bad. These are NOT smart phones that use apps. I saw one company has started to sell smart phones but they are $200/phone and $50 a month.

 

[mrodgers]

You can set up a personal account through their web site or maybe just get the store to do it. New phone purchases usually give you about 200 'minutes' and 30 'days' of service at activation.

Just to be clear, I have never seen a pre-paid phone with 200 minutes unless you are buying a bundle. Probably a typo there, but the pre-paids usually come with 20 minutes and 30 days of service.

You also don't need to create an account on the website. They can be completely anonymous and you can activate the phone and any additional card you may want over any other phone through the 1-800 number.

I would recommend at least purchasing a 60 minute card with the prepaid phone. 20 minutes can go VERY fast.

 

[a1tinkfans]

My family will be traveling to Disney in a couple of weeks. We will have 4 groups on different flights. I would like to make sure that my mother has a cell phone during her travels in the case of any delays, transportation glitches, etc. Also, it would be great for us to have a "back-up" phone in the park when we split up (only for emergencies to call in- not to receive calls).

There is no need for my mom to have an additional phone except for our trips. We will be going again in March.

I have never purchased a prepaid phone or minutes gift cards or anything like this. Does anyone have any experience with this? We do not need any "fancy" phone features and I suspect we will only use the phone for 15 minutes total and only have it on to receive calls for an hour or so.

If I buy a $10 Wal-mart prepaid phone, can I purchase additional minutes in March?

Thank you!

walmart caries samsung pay as you go phone, 19.99 phone You can put as little as 20 on and it will last a month. The money will expire unless you keep the phone active, and not roll over unless you refill it before it expires. You get a certain amount of time ..depends on how much you put on it.
Example, you can put 100 on the phone, it lasts a year, rolls over 12 mos....you can use for text/talk etc.
30 I think is for 30 days only...we do 100 and have it as a back up, great phone..easy peasy, can all be done on line...etc...basic phone for calls in/out and texts...either per minute OR per a charge per usage daily...
at&t go phones...
good luck, hope this helped

 

[suedaisy]

Thank you so much for the information. I was reading the store descriptions online getting a little confused. I knew that I could count on you guys to help me understand.
I think I will be picking up a phone over the weekend.